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Post by Faust on Nov 16, 2016 20:41:33 GMT -5
When it comes to armour kits, I will admit that I’m not as hardcore as some people. I like my tanks small, simple and cool looking. Of course, if the kit is a Matchbox then it doesn’t matter at all WHAT the subject is, I’m buying it. I LOVE the little old Matchbox 1/76 armour kits, and find they tick all the right boxes. They’re small and easy to display. They build up fairly simply and they are, almost to a one, all of vehicles I think are cool looking. Even if I’m only “meh” on the vehicle, usually the diorama base sells me! One of the collection I picked up a while ago was the old Matchbox Jagdpanzer IV/L70. I did know the Jagdpanzer IV, and thought it was a cool “sports-car”-looking tank destroyer. It has low lines and is very aggressive. No surprised I jumped at it when I saw it! I’m not sure if it’s been repopped by Revell Germany, but if it hasn’t been, it should be. Check out my out of box review of this little old gem at the link below. I seriously cannot get enough of these little guys! adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/matchbox-176-jagdpanzer-iv-l70-oob/
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Post by Faust on Nov 11, 2016 16:58:28 GMT -5
I agree with the '57 Rebel, although I would say that the car is more like the first Pony Car, given its compact size.
You're also right that they did basically invent the compact car segment in North America. If they'd stuck with it, instead of trying to branch out and fight the Big 3 on even terms, I think they'd have kept a lot of their money and stayed viable a lot longer.
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Post by Faust on Nov 10, 2016 20:13:09 GMT -5
Thanks, Ron. I think people like you are what sunk AMC. They just COULD NOT get a handle on what people wanted, and then they awkwardly styled the results of their misjudgments! Really? People like me? I'm not exactly sure what you're getting at here but I think you're probably wrong about that. What I meant is that, after the first year of the original coupe Pacer, the car wasn't really on anyone's radar. It's precisely what you said, that it wasn't really your bag, but they have a cult following. Thing is, a cult following only occurs long after the model year is gone! If AMC could have had a better feel for the styling and features people really wanted, they would have likely had a better run through the mid-'70s and early '80s. However, they stuck with quirky and found that most people might think it's neat, but not enough thought it was something they'd want to be seen in.
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Post by Faust on Nov 3, 2016 20:18:13 GMT -5
The British officially decided, in a Defence White Paper in 1957 that missiles, not manned aircraft, were the way of the future. However, since there were a few programs that were already too far along to stop, these “last few” were allowed to reach completion. On aircraft was the legendary Lightning interceptor. The other was the Buccaneer, an large, fast and tough naval attack aircraft. Eventually the Bucc’ went on to serve not only the Royal Navy, but also the RAF, taking part in the 1991 Gulf War with great success. However, while it was a great plane, the poor Bucc’ didn’t do well on the export market. The only customer was South Africa. Their small force of Bucc’s long outlived the RAF versions, and while not a lot of people know about them, they performed yeoman service against the backgrounds of crippling sanctions and worldwide political disapproval. No surprise then, that I wanted to build the Tamiya 1/100 Bucc’ as one of the South African ones! I do love the oddballs and little-knows, and it helps that a.) the kit comes with nice SAAF decals, as well as b.) their paint schemes are really cool. The little Tamiya kit might be old, but it’s still a great built, with a bit of attention leveraged in the right spots! Check out this little old gem here, and let me know what you think! adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/planes/tamiya-1100-buccaneer-s-2s-50/
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Post by Faust on Oct 21, 2016 18:35:46 GMT -5
Thanks, Ron.
They're not everyone's cup of tea, but I am glad that you appreciate the review and the work that went into it.
I think people like you are what sunk AMC. They just COULD NOT get a handle on what people wanted, and then they awkwardly styled the results of their misjudgments!
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Post by Faust on Oct 20, 2016 18:47:21 GMT -5
Everyone knows that I love loser cars. I seem to gravitate towards the odd, eclectic, underpowered and unloved. Well, there aren’t too many cars that are more of all of those things than the AMC Pacer! That’s why I was so stoked when I got my hands on the MPC ’78 coupe from Round 2 a couple of years ago. I’d seen the on the second hand market, and wasn’t about to pay what they wanted there. It never occurred to me that there would come a day that we’d be able to actually go into a shop and CHOOSE between two different Pacer kits! However, when I saw the new AMT ’77 Pacer Wagon in a local shop, that’s exactly what happened! Two different kits, of two different body styles and two different years. It’s loser Nirvana! While I don’t normally get too excited by AMT’s, there’s nothing not to like about this one. I mean, it’s a Pacer wagon and it comes with all kinds of crazy custom bits! Check out the newest addition to the Pacer model kit family out of box here: adamrehorn.wordpress.com/round-2-amt-125-1977-pacer-wagon-out-of-box/
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Post by Faust on Oct 5, 2016 19:00:25 GMT -5
I do love the odd, esoteric and somewhat forgotten planes, it seems. I always find that there’s something intrinsically rewarding about picking up a kit of a plane that most people don’t even know about. It makes it a lot more fun to build, too, assuming I can get around to it sometime! One particularly good example of this is the AIDC FCK-1, or IDF. This is the Taiwanese answer to the F-16/F-18, and, maybe not surprisingly, looks a little like both combined. This fighter wasn’t built in large numbers, but it was successful and is still in service. I personally love the idea of a twin-engined F-16, and with the IDF, that’s kind of what you get! When I ran across an injection moulded example at a swap meet some time ago, I was thrilled! Even though it’s not in my preferred scale of 1/72, it’s still a cool kit. I think it will look great once it’s built, too. Heck, as a What-If, it could even make a cool T-X contender for the Talon replacement program! Check out my out of box review of this rather oddball creation below. You might be surprised how not-terrible the kit seems to be! adamrehorn.wordpress.com/zhengdefu-148-aidc-fck-1b-ching-kuo-oob/
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Post by Faust on Sept 30, 2016 19:34:28 GMT -5
If you think about it, it's almost free money for MPC. They've got the bulk of the tooling done; all they have to do is make the few changes per year (when there are any) and voila! Brand new kit!
You're right. The technology was no where near where it had to be. Look what you can do now!
I hope this build is interesting. I'll be starting it soon!
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Post by Faust on Sept 22, 2016 20:21:16 GMT -5
Thanks, man. I do love my losers. I hope to see lots of these on contest tables in the coming years, too! About time the muscle car builders got a reminder of how sad the world got.
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Post by Faust on Sept 21, 2016 20:44:20 GMT -5
I grew up in the middle of the Automotive Dark Ages. I was surrounded by the last, sad remnants of the old V8, rear drive cars and the vanguard of the new, more compact vehicles. At the time, I remember thinking that there was no reason to announce to the world that you had a “2.2” on big numbers on the door. I mean, what good was that? What I didn’t realize that the time was how truly sad the “real” cars had gotten. That dawned on me as I grew up, and that’s part of the reason that I love to model cars from this time period. Remember them from my childhood, and now understand them, and what they meant as the collapse of a passion for motoring that would take a long time to recover. There are a lot of cars that fit into this category, but some of my favourites are those that tried hard, but failed. These were the “Faded Glory” cars; little more that econoboxes or downsized shadows of their namesakes’ former greatness. Perhaps one of the best example of this is the Road Runner. By the time 1980 rolled around, it was little more than just a decal package on a Volare, and a not-very-inspiringly-restyled Volare at that. That’s why I was so pumped to see Round 2 punch out the old MPC “Fuzz Duster” Volare! It really is an encapsulation of its era, and all that was wrong with it. Despite the lameness of the car, though, MPC did a pretty nice job on the kit, even if it’s a bit incorrect. Check out my out of box review of this “muscle” machine here. Just remember that yes, it DID get this bad! adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/mpc-125-1980-volare-road-runner-fuzz-duster-oob/
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Post by Faust on Sept 8, 2016 18:52:10 GMT -5
A few years ago Bandai expanded the Gundam franchise again with the Gundam AGE TV series. At the time, it was somewhat criticized as being a bit too “kiddie”. Sure, the character designers looked a little simpler and more “Digimon-ish” than what we’d seen before, but really, the accusation isn’t fair. AGE was a good show, and it managed to do a lot more than most other Gundam series of the same length without getting too bogged down in contrived introspection. Of course, Bandai when to town when it came to kits for AGE. Mind you, they made more kits for Unicorn and it was only a 7 episode OVA, but there were a lot of different age kits to choose from. The earliest Master Grade from AGE was the AGE-1 Normal, the ‘most basic’ form of the Gundam, but one that made it all the way through to the last episode of the series. I’ve always been a fan of the AGE-1, and was glad to give the MG a go. Check out this somewhat overlooked Master Grade below. Maybe you’ll see that AGE wasn’t so bad after all! adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/mecha-robots/bandai-1100-mg-age-1-gundam-normal-type/
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Post by Faust on Aug 25, 2016 17:23:48 GMT -5
I know that most of us have our comfort zones. We like certain kinds of planes, or cars, or whatever, and we tend to focus on subjects in those categories. For me, when it comes to cars, I’m probably most well-known for, and most comfortable with, loving the losers. Chevettes, Citations, EXPs and Omnis – these are what make my world go around. Still, every now and then a kit comes along that encourages me to branch out. One perfect example of this is the MPC (Round 2) ’75 Vette convertible. I know, I know… you’re thinking “Why would he build a Vette?”. Still, you have to admit that the ’75 convertible is one of the slipperiest automotive shapes to come out of Detroit, pretty much ever. I find it very attractive, and I was very excited to get a hold of one just the other day. So, while it doesn’t have the cachet of loserness that some of the other Round 2 reissues do, I was compelled to buy one. It doesn’t hurt that ‘75s are also pathetically slow, too. Check out this newest offering from MPC, another interesting “back from the dead” offering that proves you can have your Vette and build it too! adamrehorn.wordpress.com/mpc-125-1975-open-corvette-roadster-oob/
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Post by Faust on Aug 11, 2016 16:33:20 GMT -5
Sometimes, my love of esoteric subject matter and my almost perverse addiction to old, cruddy and more-or-less-completely-undesirable kits intersects in a cool, but ultimately painful way. A perfect example of this is when I encountered, and proceeded to snap up, a whole mass of Farpro Japan kits in a (now defunct) local shop. These are the ancient Aoshima kits, but without the cool box art. That means they’re just dogs with mangy coats, I suppose. Still, the part of me that loves a challenge and roots for the underdog can’t help but want to see these 50+ year old gems built. I’ve already built one, and another will be underway soon. To get a feel for this next project, check out my Out of Box review for the Farpro 1/72 Shiun (Norm) recce floatplane. Regardless of the badness of the kit, the Norm itself is a cool looking plane, and is rare for Japanese aircraft in that it has a counter-rotating propeller! I could have bought the newer, better and I’m sure less troublesome RS kit, but why, when I have this gem on the shelf! Check it out here, and then survey your own stash of more modern kits and thank the modelling gods they don’t make ‘em like this any more! Farpro Shiun Out of Box!
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Post by Faust on Jul 28, 2016 16:49:33 GMT -5
You know that old saying that “Nothing worthwhile comes easily”? Well, I guess it’s true, because I consider MPC kits to be a fun and worthwhile use of time, but man, the sure can be a pain in the posterior. The particular kit I’m referring to in this case is the Gold Rush Show Van! Yes, I finally got it done, but it didn’t come easy. That having been said, it certainly looks like the wild vannin’ creations I remember seeing around in my younger days, and having one on display is pretty darn exciting, especially if you love vans or MPC’s crazy over-the-top customs! Check out this fat-wheeled shingle-and-Naugahyde-sporting monster at the link below. Let me know what you think and if anyone else has built this thing, let me know how yours went together! adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/mpc-125-gold-rush-custom-showstreet-van/
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Post by Faust on Jun 16, 2016 20:44:46 GMT -5
There are dreams, and then there are pipe dreams. For a person who, like me, loves to build loser cars and their overwrought “performance” versions (like Citation X11s and sporty Cavliers), there’s always been a desire to own a kit of a Pinto. Unfortunatley, stock Pinto kits are rare and expensive beasts. When it comes to pipe dreams, Ford’s attempts to create a sporty, “Vannin’” Pinto with the Cruising Wagon is perhaps one of the ultimate insults to legitimate performance cars ever created. Sadly, kits of this wild (and cynical) attempt at automotive excitement are among the rarest of all. Only MPC made one, and the wild custom “Pony Express” has long disappeared from any affordable price range. Imagine my excitement when I heard Round 2 was bringing it back! Imagine my greater excitement when I found one at a local shop last weekend! For all those who love the ridiculous and bizarre, this is definitely a kit for you! Check out my out of box review for the newly resurrected Pony Express, and get ready to relive just how bad motoring got! adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/round-2-mpc-125-1980-pinto-cruising-wagon-pony-express-oob/
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